Title

Author

Date of Award

1-1-2008

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Computer Science

First Advisor

Wainer, Michael

Abstract

An approach using dot plots as an aid to visualizing smells within Java source files is presented. Dot plots are a visual tool that allows for viewing duplication in a document or text string. Our approach uses a plug-in for the Eclipse Java IDE to convert Java source files into dot plots. The goal here is to find problem areas in the code, known as "Code Smells", that could indicate that the source file needs to be modified or refactored. In the dot plot these problem areas appear as sections that contain interesting dot formations. Color is also used to enhance places of the dot plot that could be important. Duplication is a common problem in source code and also an important Code Smell. We will show that through finding the Duplicate Code smell we will also be able to find other code smells creating a plug-in that a programmer can use during the coding process to help improve code design.